Community and School Traffic Safety Partnership

Transcription

1 by Ray Thomas

2 Community and School Traffic Safety Partnership Resources for walking in Portland Maps & Guidebooks Neighborhood maps for N, NE, SE and SW Portland Classes & Trainings Share The Road Safety Class (503) Portland Walks Be Safe! Group Training (503) Film Pedestrian Safety City of Portland Office of Transportation Traffic Safety and Neighborhood Livability Hotline (503) 823-SAFE (7233) (503) (TDD) I Brake For People Bumper Sticker (503) 823-SAFE (7233) I Share The Road Bumper Sticker I Share The Road Pledge Forms Neighborhood Yard Signs Portable Speed Reader Board Transit TriMet Public Transportation for Bus, MAX Lightrail, WES Commuter Rail and Portland Streetcar (503) 238-RIDE (7433) trimet.org Copyright 2008 Ray Thomas

3 A Word From The Willamette Pedestrian Coalition Part I: Introduction Introduction Part II: The Basics What Is A Pedestrian? The Ebb And Flow Of Pedestrian Rights In The Crosswalk Pedestrians And Sidewalks Pedestrians And Roadway Shoulders Pedestrian Rights On Bicycle Lanes And Bikeways Pedestrian Rights On The Roadway Part III: Pedestrian Legal Advocacy Pedestrian Rights To Development Of Facilities: Getting Our Share No ID Required The Bad Pedestrian Jaywalking And The Law Vulnerable Roadway User: A New Remedy Against Careless Drivers Bicyclists Must Mix with Pedestrians on Sidewalks Skateboards And Rollerblades Same Legal Status As Bikes In Portland Part IV: Pedestrian Legal Remedies Accidents And Insurance What To Do If You re In An Accident Citizen Initiated Prosecution Getting Medical Bills Paid And Wage Loss Reimbursed Personal Injury Protection Statutes Personal injury protection benefits for motor vehicle liability policies; applicability; definitions for ORS to Binding arbitration under ORS ; costs Contents of personal injury protection benefits; deductibles Primary nature of benefits Notice of denial of payment of benefits Exclusions from coverage Benefits may be more favorable than those required by ORS , and Reimbursement of other insurers paying benefits; arbitrating issues of liability and amount of reimbursement Notice of claim or legal action to insurer; insurer to elect manner of recovery of benefits furnished; lien of insurer Subrogation rights of insurers to certain amounts received by claimant; recovery actions against persons causing injury Effect of personal injury protection benefits paid Reimbursement for personal injury protection benefits paid Part V: Traffic Laws Relating to Pedestrians Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS) Schedule of penalties Minimum fine Disorderly conduct in the second degree Use of highway fund for footpaths and bicycle trails Definitions for ORS to General exemptions; exceptions Permissive use of private roadway Crosswalk Highway Intersection Pedestrian

4 ii Right of way Shoulder Sidewalk Regulating use of throughway Duty to exercise due care Failure to obey traffic patrol member; penalty Passing stopped vehicle at crosswalk; penalty Failure to yield to pedestrian on sidewalk; penalty Failure to stop and remain stopped for pedestrian; penalty Failure to stop and remain stopped for blind pedestrian; penalty Vehicular assault of bicyclist or pedestrian; penalty Failure to stop for passenger loading of public transit vehicle; penalty Failure to yield right of way to highway worker; penalty Improper opening or leaving open of vehicle door; penalty Failure to stop when emerging from alley, driveway or building; penalty Dangerous operation around livestock; penalty Places where stopping, standing and parking prohibited Illegal stopping, standing or parking; affirmative defense; penalty Exemptions from prohibitions on stopping, standing and parking Appropriate responses to traffic control devices Failure to obey traffic control device; penalty Failure to obey bridge or railroad signal; penalty Failure to yield to vehicle; penalty Failure to yield to ambulance or emergency vehicle; penalty Failure to use pedestrian tunnel or overhead crossing; penalty Improper position upon or improperly proceeding along highway; penalty Unlawful hitchhiking; penalty Rights of driver and passengers of disabled vehicle on freeway Rights for blind or blind and deaf pedestrians Failure to perform duties of person in charge of livestock on highway; penalty Operation of moped on sidewalk or bicycle trail; penalty Unsafe operation of bicycle on sidewalk; penalty Unsafe operation of motor assisted scooter on sidewalk; penalty Unsafe operation of motor assisted scooter on bicycle path or lane; penalty Application of vehicle laws to electric personal assistive mobility device Unsafe operation of electric personal assistive mobility device; penalty OAR Safety Rules OAR Design and Construction of Bikeways Section VI: City Ordinances Relating to Pedestrians Albany Municipal Code Use of sidewalks Crossing at right angles Use of crosswalk required Ashland Municipal Code Pedestrian Use of sidewalks Crossing at right angles Crosswalk Use required Astoria City Code Crossing at Right Angles Pedestrians Must Use Crosswalks Beaverton Municipal Code Use of Sidewalks Pedestrian Must Use Available Crosswalk Right Angles

5 iii Eugene City Code Right Angles Gresham Municipal Code Section Pedestrians Milwaukie Municipal Code Regulations Oregon City Municipal Code Jaywalking Portland City Code Must Use Crosswalks Must Cross at Right Angles To Obey Directions of School Traffic Patrol and Crossing Guard Bridge Railings Penalty Sandy City Code Unlawful street obstruction Use of sidewalks Right angles Obedience to traffic lights Scappoose Municipal Code of Ordinances Pedestrians Use of crosswalks required Street crossing Right angles Obstructing streets Springfield Municipal Code Pedestrians Obstructing Streets Use of Sidewalks Play Vehicles Restricted St. Helens Municipal Code Pedestrians must use crosswalks Right angles Stayton City Code Crossing Streets at Right Angles Tigard Municipal Code Use Of Sidewalks Use of Crosswalks (Jaywalking) Troutdale City Ordinances Use of crosswalks required Crossing streets at right angles West Linn Municipal Code Pedestrian traffic Woodburn City Ordinances Section 32. Right Angles Section 33. Use of Available Crosswalk Yamhill Active Municipal Code Pedestrians Must Use Crosswalks Right Angles Section VII:Rules Relating to Insurance Insurance Company Rules and Regulations ORS Unfair claim settlement practices OAR Misrepresentation and other prohibited claim practices OAR Required claim communication practices OAR Standard for Prompt Claim Investigation Section VIII:Additional Resources Additional Resources

6

7 A Word From The Willamette Pedestrian Coalition We hope you find this legal guide to be a useful resource for understanding pedestrian rights in Oregon. Oregon Pedestrian Rights: A Legal Guide for Persons on Foot is a part of the education program of the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition (WPC). The WPC is a non-profit pedestrian advocacy group working to improve conditions for pedestrians in the Portland metro area and the State of Oregon. WPC has been organized for empowerment, education, funding for pedestrian projects, safety improvements, better laws, and greater enforcement. Founded in 1991, WPC continues to be a voice for walkers, young and old. WPC organizes major media events and joins with public and private groups to support safe and attractive walking conditions for pedestrians, including schoolchildren and the elderly, throughout the region. I invite you to join the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition by becoming a member. Copy and fill out the form on the next page and become a part of the movement! You will help us represent pedestrians and increase the voice of those who choose to use their feet or assistance devices to propel themselves for exercise, for transportation, and fun to their destinations. Walking is sustainable; it is good for you and good for the environment. Walking gets you there. Keep Walking, Mike Dennis WPC President Spring 2008

8

9 Part I: Introduction

10

11 Introduction Work to create an Oregon legal movement for non-motorized roadway users Walking on two legs is the original and definitive human transportation. Upright locomotion distinguished us from our evolutionary forbears and remained for some 100,000 years the primary way to get from point A to point B on land. Walking got most people 99.9% of the way through human history. But since Ford made four wheels affordable, Rockefeller sold us five bucks worth of regular, and Eisenhower built the interstate highway system, the Faustian ascendancy of motorized transport has been inexorable and accelerating. We now find ourselves at a pivot-point in urban transportation, having realized, along with a small but increasing number of cities worldwide, that the future of getting around in cities will have to mean fewer cars and more human powered motion. We need to reevaluate and reestablish the norms that define relations among pedestrians, bicycles, public transport and the automobile. It is time to band together with all non-motorized user groups and pursue our common goal of making Oregon s roads safer. Significant progress has already been made in recent years by the activist bicyclist movement and efforts to increase the safety of roadway workers and reduce speeds in neighborhoods and school zones. Now the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, which has advocated for improved safety for pedestrians since 1991, is expanding its work to include a new legal education program that includes this new legal guide. It s an authoritative primer on Oregon s traffic laws, containing articles and sections of the Oregon Revised Statutes (ORS), and it s also available online as a.pdf file at Oregon s roadways must be made safer for non-motorized roadway users. The Oregon Health Department and State Epidemiologist have both publicly recognized that getting people out of cars for transport is a serious health priority, both to counter global warming and to improve

12 Part I: Introduction personal health through exercise. State planners and political leaders are almost unanimous in their support for reducing reliance on motor vehicles for neighborhood errands, downtown trips, and transport of school children. Yet the folks who actually put in the miles on foot are forced to dodge cars and contend with dangerous intersections and roadways every day. Roadway safety for non-motorized users must improve before increased numbers of Oregonians are going to be willing to leave the relative safety of their cars and walk or ride a bike. A first step is to learn about the basic legal rights that all non-motorized road users have to the right of way on sidewalks and in crosswalks. A second step is to contribute to creating a group consciousness around the natural alliance of all folks on the road outside of cars. A third step is to work to enforce and improve the laws, on the street, in the courts and in the legislature. Pedestrians have important legal rights, but few people, on foot or in cars, really understand the basic legal rules for sidewalks, crosswalks and streets. Pedestrians and motorists who view each other with ignorance and suspicion are unlikely to team up to create a positive cooperative atmosphere on the street. If people think streets aren t safe, people won t walk. The Willamette Pedestrian Coalition has now launched a series of legal clinics to teach people about their rights (and responsibilities) on the roadway. The WPC Legal Clinics provide an overview of legal rights and how to use the law to improve safety on the street. Clinics teach the basics about pedestrian laws and how to use the laws to prosecute dangerous drivers. For example, Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) gives citizens the legal right to prosecute and convict dangerous drivers in traffic court for common traffic violations like Failing to Stop and Remain Stopped for a Pedestrian in a Crosswalk (ORS ) and Failure to Yield to a Pedestrian On a Sidewalk (ORS ). And when a Vulnerable Roadway User (defined as a pedestrian, highway worker, bicyclist, skateboarder, roller blader or farm worker) is injured or killed by a careless driver, a new law passed by the 2007 Oregon Legislature creates enhanced penalties, including community service, traffic safety and driver improvement programs, or a fine of up to $12,500 and mandatory one year license suspension. Please support the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition s efforts to improve safety on Oregon s roadways. Visit their website at join, contribute, volunteer!

13 Work To Create A Legal Movement For Non-motorized Roadway Users Why a pedestrian handbook? Does Oregon need a pedestrian rights handbook? The answer is yes, unless you accept the status quo: pedestrian deaths totaled one-third of all traffic fatalities in the City of Portland in 2006; eleven pedestrians are killed and more than 300 injured in Oregon each year while attempting to exercise their lawful right of way to cross the road within a crosswalk; and a pedestrian is 130 times more likely to die in a collision than a motor vehicle occupant. While an argument can be made that these injuries and deaths would be reduced if pedestrian access were restricted by placing more humans into enclosed steel vehicles, the vitality of the human race mandates movement in the opposite direction streets need to be made safer for pedestrians and humans need to use their bodies to transport themselves. Parents believe that neighborhood streets are so unsafe that they must deliver their children by automobile to school. Later, those same children will look to cars as the transportation choice of first resort no matter what the distance. While most Portland children walked or biked to school in 1970, only a handful risk it now (66% in 1970; 8% in 2002). While the dangers associated with non-motorized travel are very real, the solution lies not in creating fewer pedestrians, but in making the streets safer by planning for non-motorized traffic, preventing bad drivers from getting behind the wheel, and learning about, expanding upon and improving pedestrian laws. Walking as a fundamental right A free society provides citizens with the right to walk about freely and safely. Our freedom of lawful assembly depends on the right of access to public property and must be defended at every opportunity. It is actually a crime in Oregon to disrupt pedestrian traffic on a public way or to disturb a lawful assembly under the Oregon Criminal Code section called Disorderly Conduct. ORS Ebb and flow of pedestrian culture Legal and legislative support of the pedestrian s right to proceed on foot has expanded and contracted with historical and technological developments and customs. Shortly after the turn of the 20th Century, early motorized vehicles were considered a hazard, scaring horses and endangering pedestrians. In the 1940 s society embraced development of a high-speed road system and the use of labor-saving devices. New suburban housing developments eliminated sidewalks as too costly and unnecessary. But in the 1970 s, a new awareness dawned that high-speed automobile thoroughfares and subdivisions without sidewalks were

14 Part I: Introduction dicing neighborhoods into small sections without pedestrian corridors to stores, schools and other common destinations. The increasing cost of fossil fuel, concerns about obesity and widespread helplessness and dependence on motors and servomechanisms led forward-thinking planners to create pedestrian and bicycle facilities in order to encourage people to use their bodies once again. Unfortunately, for many, the shift was difficult to reverse as it only took about two decades for parents to shift from expecting their children to walk to school to insisting on delivering them by car. Safe Routes to School Programs, bicycle lanes and boulevards, pedestrian corridors and shared use paths were all designed to reverse the trend toward a sedentary population, but the change has been slow because pedestrian facilities had been largely eliminated or allowed to deteriorate. Oregon s pedestrian legal culture needs support Fortunately, Oregon has worked hard to move its citizens in a healthy direction with its well-organized bicycle- and pedestrian-advocacy communities prodding policy- and decision-makers. The one percent rule requiring that at least one-percent of state highway funds be spent for nonmotorized travel (ORS ) provides a legal basis for advocacy and, if necessary, litigation to enforce development of nonmotorized transportation. Oregon s broad definition of sidewalk as a place that is capable of being used by a pedestrian greatly expands pedestrian rights of access beyond the traditional paved neighborhood sidewalk. In addition, Oregon law gives a citizen the right to prosecute a traffic violator in court, without a lawyer, with the same consequences for conviction as if a traffic officer had cited the defendant. ORS And the 2005 Oregon Legislature attempted to safeguard pedestrian rights when it passed ORS , requiring vehicles to yield the lane of travel and at least six feet or the entire next lane to people crossing in both marked and unmarked crosswalks. While creation of nonmotorized facilities in roadways will be certain to improve pedestrian safety, higher numbers of people walking will also increase the number of collisions, even though experience has shown that the rate of injuries goes down as pedestrian numbers rise. So long as pedestrians are trying to negotiate their way around high-speed motorized traffic, mass and velocity differences will result in high energy transfers in collisions. One solution is to create enhanced penalties for motorists who fail to recognize the rights of vulnerable users on the roadway. The 2007 Oregon legislature recognized the importance of the Vulnerable User

15 Work To Create A Legal Movement For Non-motorized Roadway Users Concept when they passed into law the enhanced penalty contained in HB 3314, which became effective January 1, However, enhanced penalty programs that do not lead to incarceration for repeat offenders will do little to safeguard vulnerable users from drivers who insist on driving after their licenses have been suspended and insurance cancelled. Far too many catastrophic injuries are caused by drivers who are suspended and uninsured. Until criminal prosecution of suspended drivers who cause accidents becomes a higher priority, we are all vulnerable to a collision with someone who has repeatedly demonstrated the inability or refusal to drive safely. Pedestrian vulnerability necessitates improved motorist safety While some pedestrian collisions occur because of errors in technique or basic unfamiliarity with the operation of a vehicle, too many are caused by errors in judgment that are not so easily avoided. The emerging science of cognitive psychology provides us with a useful model to analyze how people make choices when they are uncertain. Understanding how drivers make choices when they are uncertain leads to a better understanding that the decision-making process of a driver who turns a corner and strikes a pedestrian is often based upon fundamental mistakes in logical thinking. Such mistakes cannot be prevented because the person will predictably repeat the same wrong choice. Those likely to commit such errors in judgment can be identified by their poor driving histories. In a society in which ownership and operation of a motor vehicle is mistakenly considered a fundamental right by many people, and in which the state fails to provide a rigorous evaluation and enforcement administration for management of the driving public, success in preventing dangerous drivers from getting behind the wheel is unlikely anytime soon. Safety advocates have developed a host of traffic calming strategies, which all basically lower traffic speed. But until dangerous and bad drivers are deterred from motor vehicle operation, too many drivers who should never be driving in the first place and are largely unreachable through traditional safety programs will remain on the roads. Legal reform is difficult Another impediment to development of a safer environment for pedestrians is the reluctance to allow nonmotorized travel to interfere with ease of motorized transportation. For example, when SB 537, the pedestrian hand-signal bill, was introduced in the 2007 Oregon legislature, criticism of the provision came from unexpected quarters. The bill, which the Oregon Senate passed but the Oregon House failed to pass,

16 10 Part I: Introduction would have mandated that motorists stop for pedestrians in crosswalks if the pedestrian signaled with an upraised hand the intention to enter the crosswalk. The fear expressed by many legislators, who said they supported improved pedestrian safety, was that the hand-signal bill would have fundamentally changed the power structure in congested traffic and allowed pedestrians to create gridlock by exercising their right of way and bringing traffic to a standstill. However, the alternative is grim from a pedestrian standpoint because, while pedestrians have the right of way in a crosswalk, the only way to obtain the right of way is to actually enter the crosswalk, which requires moving from the safety of the curb into the roadway. Every motorist has the experience of watching pedestrians, who possess the legal right of way if they stepped off of the curb, waiting uneasily for cars to pass because the pedestrian knows motorists are unlikely to recognize the pedestrian s legal rights to bring traffic to a stop. Requiring Oregon pedestrians to enter the crosswalk to claim their right of way is difficult to teach and practically impossible for police to enforce. The pedestrian has the right, but is afraid to use it. The current system creates ignorance and confusion when pedestrians and motorized vehicles mix. If the Oregon House had followed the leadership of the Senate, and passed the hand-signal bill into law, Oregon would have led the nation in pedestrian safety practices, following the lead of Norway, which has successfully used the hand-signal concept for years and has a populationadjusted pedestrian fatality rate of 50% less than the United States (.83 in Norway, versus 1.67 persons killed per 100,000 in the United States). About this legal guide The purpose of Oregon Pedestrian Rights: A Legal Guide for Persons on Foot is to provide an authoritative reference that includes the actual text of Oregon s statutes and rules of law governing pedestrians. Knowledge is Power and this guide is made available in electronic and hard-copy format in order to spread consciousness about pedestrian rights, and to encourage Oregon pedestrians to improve conditions for all nonmotorized roadway users. It is our hope that by swiping away at the uncertainty about what the law actually requires, pedestrians will be more confident, on the street, in court and in the legislature. While an interpretive guide to the law is helpful (and we have included articles, commentary, and resources to assist the reader), a direct relationship with the actual text of the laws contained in the Oregon Revised Statutes (cited as ORS followed by the statute number) is necessary to cut through the superstition, urban myths and just really wrong stuff that people think about the law. While the language in the statutes has its

17 Work To Create A Legal Movement For Non-motorized Roadway Users 11 own system of grammar and punctuation, the Oregon Vehicle Code is an important if somewhat unwieldy historic structure containing the legal foundation of pedestrian rights and limits on the street. We have also painstakingly assembled and included numerous city ordinances governing Oregon s pedestrians, many of which are a complete surprise to the folks who live in those places. Our companion book Pedal Power: A Legal Guide for Oregon Bicyclists contains a number of topics that may be helpful for pedestrians such as laws governing dogs, insurance rules and regulations, and online resources. It may be found on our website, in many area bike stores and the offices of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA, Thanks go to Margaret Weddell for the idea that we should create a pedestrian legal guide and for the section on insurance, and to Jim Coon for contributing, editing, and generally tuning up this legal guide.

18

19 Part II: The Basics 13

20